"The ant is on the sugar."
Translation:La formica è sullo zucchero.
47 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
What's the difference between La formica è sullo zucchero & La formica è nello zucchero?
The first means that it is on the sugar, the other means that it is in the sugar, buried.
I will never get any further than this stupid, confusing lesson on prepositions that makes no sense whatsoever!!!!!
Yeah, this time we were lucky. But with sentences like 'from the sugar to the chocolate', i'm afraid it wouldn't be so easy to find any context...
How come "Gli insetti sono nello zucchero." is correct according to the site but "La formica è nello zucchero." is not?
The earlier sentence used "nello" to mean "in the" whereas this sentence uses "sullo" to mean "on the".
I wrote "la formica sta sullo zucchero" and it was marked as wrong. This is really wrong or is also correct? (I asked because I'm portuguese, and in portuguese - language with the same origin than italian - we say "está" from the verb "estar (stare)").
According to my mom (who came off the boat from Italy), such a difference is not made between "essere" and "stare" as it is in Spanish or in Portuguese. In Italian, "stare" is more like "to stay" or "to remain". Sono qui = I am here. Sto qui = I'll stay/remain here. (Can mean "I am here" but with the context of being here for a while... I'm guessing..) Hope this helps!
Well, I'm no pro on Italian, but I think this is correct. However, "stare" or "sta" has dual meanings such as most words in Italian. There was a sentence that said: "il leone sta nello zoo" which translates to both "the lion stays" and the "lion is in the zoo." I think duolingo just looks for the most commonly used meanings.
That's better than it being in the sugar again, right?! I mean, you can just pick it right out of there. ;D
Can anyone explain why i have to use 'Lo Zucchero' rather than 'Il zucchero'? Thanks
Nouns that start with "Z" use "lo" instead of "il." This is also true for words that start with "S" and then a consonant like "Lo studento." Plurals use "gli" as in "gli studenti."
Why is it sul piatto but sullo zucchero? when both nouns are single masculine?
is it because piatto is il piatto? whereas zucchero uses lo? and therefore requires sullo? i read above that lo is for single nouns beginning with the letter s or z. trying to make connections.
you are right. the preposition gets added with the article of the object. You can check the preposition table in the preposition exercise in Duolingo (access through desktop version).
Its like that because the prepositions are followed by the article of the object for which it is used. So in this case since sugar is lo zucchero, 'La formica è sullo zucchero'
If you get a sentence 'I drive on the road'. Street is 'la strada' so, it will be 'Guido sulla strada'.
I wrote nello and it was marked wrong because Duo says 'on' (sullo) and not 'in' (nello). However, to me the problem is the Duo English sentence because it would be rare and very specific to describe an ant as being 'on' rather than 'in' the sugar!